Best way to take images of lion, ellie and birds are with mushrooms They all love them.Lion likes them best with garlicSo what to do:Camera on tripodFlash onRemote controlStanding behind a treeAnd a nice potje of mushrooms

I have recently started looking into using fill-in flash for wildlife shots, to counteract bad lighting situations.Do you use fill-in flash for your wildlife shots?Do you use plain fill-in, or front or rear curtain sync?Have you used a flash extender?

joshilewis,I normally just use the flash extender when the subject is very far away(12-15m). When closer, it's not needed as you can use your flash alone.

Cheetah taken by SO in the KTFP.

Fill-in flash normally works when you don't have a choice and need to photograph in the middle of the day when the light is very harsh and straight from above, which means the subject has shadows over the face which also means no reflection from the eye.

The flash produces a highlight in the eye which is needed to let the animal look "alive", and to light up the darker areas. I also use flash when the subject is in shadow, or on very overcast days.

This photo of a black rhino was made in a very well known place. Those that have been there know where it is, and the distance involved.Canon EOS 30D, f/5.6 @ 285 mm, 1/250, ISO 1600 and flash with flash extender.Flash set to rear curtain of course, and set at 2/3 stop down I think, but I may have left it at full blast. That would be more logical.

This photo of a black rhino was made in a very well known place. Those that have been there know where it is, and the distance involved.Canon EOS 30D, f/5.6 @ 285 mm, 1/250, ISO 1600 and flash with flash extender.Flash set to rear curtain of course, and set at 2/3 stop down I think, but I may have left it at full blast. That would be more logical.

Wow, so the extender worked quite well for you I hope I don't have to go as high as ISO1600 to make my flash sync happy. On that, I'll be borrowing my brother's D50 this weekend, which has flash sync of 1/500 (instead of the 1/200 of my D40X).

If my camera has high speed sync capability does that mean if i were to get an external flash i would be able to use higher shutter speeds than the sync speed of the built in flash? Im very interested in getting a flash to help with the midday shots

_________________The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle

From the reading I've done in the past 2 days, it depends on your camera.

Flash sync means the fastest shutter speed which still has the entire sensor exposed at one time. Faster shutter speeds means the 2nd curtain starts closing before the 1st curtain is completely open. Thus if your flash went off, the light from the flash would not reach certain parts of the sensor. (This is a very brief explanation of the subject).

Therefore flash sync is the fastest shutter speed you can use with a flash, any flash. It is a function of the mechanical design of the camera, and doesn't have to do with the flash.

From what I understand, a lot of the newer Canon and Nikon bodies, coupled with a newer, higher-end speedlight/flashgun can use a separate type of flash, which will effectively become a strobelight, with many smaller pulses during the exposure. This means that the entire sensor will be exposed to the light from the flash. However this also means you lose the 'action freezing effects' of using your flash, since there are multiple flashes.

Its fine to use fill flash but according to Biologist friends it is not ethical to shoot cats with flash day or night and I have alo heard that birds like nocturnal owls, Dikkops and Coursers it is a big no no also because of the sensitivity of the eyes and the recovery time needed. We dont use flash anymore as we have d Lighting which pumps up contrast and detail. My Canon 40D never had that feature but the D700 does and I assume the Canon Camera that replaced the 40D also has D Lighting...whats it called the 7D??

I took these two shots using a D50 with a 2x Kenko t/c, 80-200mm F2.8 AF, SB600 and a Better Beamer. The difference the flash an extender made is very noticeable. Unfortunately I didn't take any shots without flash for comparison. I'm really happy with the results so far, and can recommend this approach. I am definitely going to continue using the flash and extender as much as I can in the future.

Awards: Birder of the Year (2014) & Sighting of the Year - Birds (2013)Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:33 pmPosts: 2499Location: Bashing BaluleAward: Birder of the Year (2014)

joshilewis wrote:

From the reading I've done in the past 2 days, it depends on your camera.

Flash sync means the fastest shutter speed which still has the entire sensor exposed at one time. Faster shutter speeds means the 2nd curtain starts closing before the 1st curtain is completely open. Thus if your flash went off, the light from the flash would not reach certain parts of the sensor. (This is a very brief explanation of the subject).

Therefor flash sync is the fastest shutter speed you can use with a flash, any flash. It is a function of the mechanical design of the camera, and doesn't have anything to do with the flash.

From what I understand, a lot of the newer Canon and Nikon bodies, coupled with a newer, higher-end speedlight/flashgun can use a separate type of flash, which will effectively become a strobelight, with many smaller pulses during the exposure. This means that the entire sensor will be exposed to the light from the flash. However this also means you lose the 'action freezing effects' of using your flash, since there are multiple flashes.

Although you understand the processes, your explanation is actually not 100% correct, joshilewis.

High Speed Sync lets you flash at higher shutter speeds than X-sync (the maximum shutter speed that synchronises with your flash when it produces one flash of light). As typical settings at ISO 800 in reasonably good light can be around 1/2000 sec at f/5.6 the action will be frozen… not by the flash, but by the shutter speed of your camera. The flash pulses thousands of times per second (@ 50kHz), for a brief period, to produce essentially a continuous beam of light. So, in effect you improve the ambient light artificially for that brief moment while your camera shutter is open, even at shutter speeds up to the fastest your camera is capable of, doing away with the old limit of maximum sync speed. However, both camera and flash must offer this feature.

I reproduced a diagram from Canon that illustrates the point...

Another useful feature of HSS-enabled flashes is that it reverts to normal flashing if the camera shutter speed goes below X-sync for whatever reason. So, setting and leaving your flash HSS-enabled makes sense for wildlife photographers.

Just as an aside... if you get very close to fast action (e.g. insects and hovering birds or hole nesters) you can freeze the action with the light from your flash by dialing down the output to minimum (1/128th on good flashes). At this setting the light flash duration is 1/50000th of a sec! Unfortunately the prerequisite of closeness cannot be overcome because of the feeble light intensity of a flash at 1/128th of its full output.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum